It’s often hard to describe to people what it is exactly that I do... The complexities of signal chains, pre and post effects, cut-off and resonance, delay time vs feedback, and even just looping in general go over the heads of 70% of the people I try to talk to about it. I actually really appreciate when I come across someone who is into the nerdier side of music and I can discuss these sorts of things in detail. It’s important to me that people understand that the sounds I make on stage are all created on the spot, but I often have trouble communicating that to people without boring them silly with technical jargon...

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Posted: 14th November, 2011

Inspired is an awesome way to feel. A wee while ago that’s just how I was feeling, so I set up my iPhone to take some video – precariously balanced on a cardboard box, which was precariously balanced on the back of a couch; then plugged my wee recording device into the headphone jack of the last Kaoss Pad in my signal chain. Then I just jammed on one of the songs I had been working on recently to see what would come out of it. This video is the result – with some compression on the mix and a limiter to bring it up to the correct volume I'm fairly pleased with the sound. There’s a bit of a wierd electronic squeak/hiss behind it but overall I was pleased with how it came out...

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Posted: 10th November, 2011

This is a song called ‘Growing Pains’ from my upcoming concept album – How to Beat the Man & Save the World. It focuses on the concept of infinite growth within a finite system. It raises questions around the way we do things currently, and whether or not we can continue the same way.

I recorded this track live in the basement of my flat, out the headphone jack of the last Kaoss Pad in my signal chain into my Zoom H4 recorder. It was an interesting experience to record something live with no overdubs to say the least... No screwing up allowed! (Although you may notice some discrepancies with the bassline throughout the song...)

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Posted: 10th November, 2011

A multimedia project of massive scope and potential. The idea is to educate and entertain at the same time through the blending of music, lyrics, graphics, video, information resources, concepts and various teaching processes. Instead of aiming this at children, who normally take on the role of the student, this project will be aimed at all the ‘educated’ people that spend 8 hours a day in a stuffy office, slaving away so that they can afford to eat, drink and sleep under a roof.

The name of the project – How To Beat The Man & Save The World – is multi-faceted. It brings back the 60’s / 70’s persona of ‘The Man’ – A generalised representation of every entity that tries to profit from the troubles and even the very existence of the public. The Man works well because everyone knows what you mean when you say you want to ‘Stick it to The Man’. In the context of the title, The Man can also be seen to be representing the human race – as in we’re killing the planet and we need to save it from ourselves...

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Posted: 10th November, 2011

I love experimenting with new toys. This new toy was a birthday present, and it makes some really cool sounds. It’s a Novation Xiosynth 25 – Virtual Analogue Synth. I spent the day of my birthday playing around, trying to find every sound that it could make and ways to use it with my looping set up. Then I decided to have an ‘expression session’ and video it. At the time there was a world looping championship being run by Boss, and I had been watching some AMAZING looping videos by some ridiculously talented loopers from around the world. This inspired me to give it a go myself, even if Boss weren’t going to run a New Zealand leg of the contest.

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Posted: 10th November, 2011

This is the song that really makes me enjoy looping – the line: ‘In a harrmooonnyyyyyyy yeaaaaah’ is just so much fun to layer onto, and so satisfying to play live to people because it forms such a connection with the people who see each harmony created one after the other...

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Posted: 10th November, 2011

All photos by Deano Shirrifs. Homebrewed EP was created as a quick way to get my music out to as many people as possible. With the ability to record at home, I found that it's not really necessary to pay for other people’s time or resources to create something worth listening to. At the release I brewed a beer, and members of the audience sewed their own CD jackets!...

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Posted: 10th November, 2011

Homebrewed EP is an attempt at self-producing something worth buying. I made the music, the packaging and everything to do with it myself (with help from some lovely volunteers along the way). It has shown me that it's possible to make something special without mass-producing or trying to make it about the money.

It was released on the 4th of June 2010 at Sammy’s Entertainment Venue in Dunedin to an appreciative and fun crowd, who enjoyed learning about the beer I brewed on the night, and really got into the spirit of things. Some of them even jumped on the sewing machine and sewed their own CD Jackets! It was a successful evening all round, and I want to thank everyone who helped make it possible. Not only did it work out well as an event on its own, it also showed me that I can do it all myself in future too on a bigger scale...

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Posted: 10th November, 2011